With one month to go before winter ends, February's average temperature in Islip, up to Tuesday, is 29.8, which is 2.2 degrees below normal for the period, said Joe Pollina, meteorologist with the weather service in Upton.

But December's monthly average temperature was 40.5, which is 4.9 degrees above normal, and January's average was 33.1, up 2.5 degrees over normal.

Despite the season's mild temperatures, much of the Island has seen above-average snowfall totals, thanks to the Feb. 8-9 blizzard, which dumped 27.8 inches of snow in Islip. Medford saw 33.5 inches of snow from that storm, while Upton recorded 30.9. Until then, Islip's snowfall had been below average, and the storm "brought us from a snow deficit to a snow surplus for the season," Pollina said.

Looking ahead to the rest of February, the weather service projects an equal chance that temperatures will be higher than, lower than or just at normal, Pollina said.

But, with an eye to spring, just a month away, the chance is 40 percent to 50 percent that the area will see above average -- rather than normal or lower than normal -- temperatures for March, April and May, he said. Islip's average temperature is 39.6 in March, 49.5 in April and 58.9 in May, according to the weather service.

As of late afternoon, however, Pollina said that models indicated the precipitation would likely be "more in the way of rain than snow," starting late morning to early afternoon Saturday and ending possibly as late as Sunday afternoon for those in eastern Long Island.

Still, if the storm tracks farther east than currently expected, it would bring in colder air off the ocean, and snow would be back in the picture, he said.